All In! Are We Really?

Words & Works of Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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All In?

There are areas of our life where we should be all in. We say we are. We know we need to be. We’d like to be, but are we really?
Marriage. I’m all in. And yet there are are things I let in ahead of Sara that I probably shouldn’t.
I’ve always been faithful. But, maybe I go play golf and spend more than a half a day on course rather than w/ her when she may need my help on something.
Sometimes we let hobbies get in the way.
Sure, some ppl have affairs. Others have addictions. These are the obvious big ways we are not all in on our marriage. But how many little ways are there?
Think about what you’ve allowed to get in the way.
Job? Career?
We had our first child when I was still in seminary. I had a semester left. Sara had 6 weeks maternity leave plus some vacation. She took it. Then, she had to go back to work.
I took my classes 2 mornings during the week. We found someone to take care of Alyssa while I was in class. But the rest of the time, I was Mr. Mom.
Sara and I agreed, if she went back to work, I took on all the duties at home. I took care of Alyssa, but did the cooking and the cleaning. Sara helped when she was home. She wanted the time w/ Alyssa. And I had to study.
I was Alyssa’s caregiver that first year of her life.
When I got my first ministry job, I wanted to do it right, make a good impression, and there was a lot to do. I worked days and evenings after work. There were bible studies to prepare for and teach. Committees to lead. Education ministries to administer. I dove in. I was all in.
I didn’t protect my day off, either.
One day, after a few months of this, I came home for dinner, walked into the kitchen where our dining table was, Alyssa was already there, I went to kiss her, and she looked at me w/ anger in her eyes and said, “NO!”. She was barely 1 year old. But she communicated clearly to me I was all in on the wrong thing.
That day, things changed. I stopped working every evening and took my day off to spend time w/ my family.
I still play golf but I manage it around the quantity of quality time w/ Sara.
Almost 40 years, but we still have to work at it. I’m not perfect by any stretch w/ my time and attention toward my wife. Sometimes, we need to have one of those convos about time and attention.
The point of vacations or a couple of days away. Even just paying attention when we sit down to eat our evening meal. TV is off. My phone is nowhere near me.
We do our best, we could do better, but our marriage is pretty good. Grace and mercy are practiced as best we can.
Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment. You know His answer. He didn’t pick any of the big 10. But, He picked 2 that summarize them.
Luke 10:27 NIV
He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
If there was a better definition of ‘all in’, I don’t know what it is.
Engaged, present emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically; all the time. Being here, feeling something, thinking about what you’re singing or what the bible is saying, and letting God speak to your soul.
Think about where you are right now, today, in this room. This is the place where this should be the truest. Be even then, we all struggle w/ distractions. What’s distracting you?
Simply put, if something is in your way of focusing entirely on God then you’ve given it space in your life that is supposed to be reserved for God.
Seriously though, if Jesus’ answer was all of you, all the time, then who does that? Maybe, we want to, we try to, and maybe some of us don’t really. What’s the least I can do and still be okay w/ God?
Let’s be honest. We all either consciously, or unconsciously ask that Q when we’re too busy, conflicted, tired, stressed, or confused to concentrate for an hour of worship, or take a little time every day to read your bible, pray, and let God into your life for that moment; or, spend a quantity of quality time w/ other Xians and talk about godly things.
We might be there physically, but are we there mentally and emotionally?
And, this is how we’re supposed to love God. That’s just the first part. Then, there’s the 2nd part where we’re supposed to love ea other at least as much as we love ourselves.
We give ourselves a lot of love.
If the 1st one doesn’t get you, then the 2nd one will.
Nobody does this perfectly. We may want to. We may not. But, if we want to go to heaven, this is the standard Jesus says we need to meet.
HELP!
That’s the bad news. But the good news is, if you’ll pray that simple, one-word desperate prayer, Jesus will help you. He is merciful to let it slide when we try to slide by in our relationships. He could smite us on the spot. But, He doesn’t.
He is gracious to still give us the peace, joy, kindness, self-control, power, courage, and abilities that He offers even when we don’t offer all of ourselves to Him.
This is the point of one of the most well-known parables He taught.
The standard we must meet is too high. But Jesus stoops low enough help us meet it so we can.
We don’t need to love God perfectly. Nor do we need to love each other like this. We need to try. The effort needs to be there. But when we can’t, Jesus is there to do the rest of the work so we can.
Acknowledging this is being ‘all-in’ w/ God.
This is the parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s in Luke 10.

The Trap

Luke 10:25–29 NIV
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus had just sent out the 72, 2x2, and they had returned. Their assignment was to be Jesus’ advance team, preparing the cities and towns for His arrival. They would have explained that Jesus is the Messiah and we need to accept that truth and Him as our Savior.
The next thing they, we, must understand is, (amending an old cliche’), the ppl won’t care who you know, until they know you care, about them.
In prep for this lesson, Jesus was interacting w/ a lawyer, a expert in the Jewish law.
His question is not sincere. He thinks he knows the answer. He’s testing Jesus to see how He will answer.
I worked for a senior pastor once who worked really hard at asking questions of his staff. But, it was obvious he was making statements w/ his questions. His questions weren’t always sincere. He was trying to make a point w/ us young guys. Rather than coming right out and telling us what he wanted us to know or do, he’d phrase it in the form of a question.
The unfortunate thing was, he had a lot to offer us. Years of experience. But we didn’t respond so well when he that. It was kind of insulting.
Well, this is what this so-called expert did to Jesus. Jesus, obviously, saw right thru it.
The expert would have expected Jesus to say that He is the Messiah. Believe in Me! Blasphemy, if not true. He would have expected Jesus to circumvent the law, or override it. But, He didn’t.
He turned it around and asked the expert what was in the law. What did the law say?
The expert aced it. Nailed it. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5. These are the 2 greatest commands. Jesus confirmed this when He was asked at a different time.
All you must do is love God w/ all you have, all the time. And, love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Which would have been quite a bit. These leaders were often times a little too full of themselves thinking they were smart enough to out-think and entrap God.
Jesus told him, he’d answered correctly. If he did this, and did it perfectly, then he’d be saved and go to heaven, get into the kingdom, live forever.
The sad thing, the arrogant thing, this expert believed he did. He honestly believed he loved God and his neighbors perfectly. His subconscious attitude was, which was communicated in his next question, what’s the minimum I can do and still be okay w/ God.
He tried to justify himself. He deflected the focus off of himself to whomever Jesus said his neighbor was.
There were two big problems w/ what he believed about himself.
First, you can’t love God like this if you don’t believe in His Son who’s right there. If you don’t have faith in Jesus, don’t believe Who He is, what He came to do, and the reason why you need Him to do it for you; then you can’t love God.
Second, he wanted to narrowly define who is neighbor was. There were ppl around him that he did not want to have act like he loved. He knew what it meant to love someone. Love is a verb. It involves emotions and a bond. But, the foundation is sacrificial actions.
And there were just too many ppl he did not want to have to do that for.
That said, even if a person does believe in Jesus to be saved, we still don’t love God perfectly.
His next question shouldn’t have been to define who his neighbor is, but it should have been, “How? How can I do this better? Help me.”
By acknowledging this, we admit we’re not perfect. We need God’s mercy and grace to meet His standard to be saved. Which is exactly what Jesus is offering.
Jesus did not deny the law. He accurately applied it. These OT verses still apply today. The substance is the relationships. The style is the law. No other gods, don’t kill anybody, don’t steal their stuff.
We cannot say we love someone and not act like it.
Relationships should be our priority. A personal rel w/ God first, then, w/ ea other. These relationships are not to be narrowly defined as only other Xians.
We cannot separate nor distinguish between loving God and our treatment of other ppl. Even those ppl who don’t deserve t/b treated well.
Remember what Jesus did for you when you didn’t deserve it either.
This expert sought to soften the law to feel better about himself, to justify himself. And in the parable Jesus is about to tell him, there is no non-neighbor.
The point here is not about who your neighbor is, or isn’t. It’s about intentionally, actively, looking for, being aware of needs of the ppl around you and meeting them.
It’s not about them, who they are. It’s about us. Are we looking for opportunities to treat ppl well and act like we care about them?
So, Jesus tells him a story, you know the story well. It has little to do w/ the victim of the robbers. And just about everything to do w/ the trio of ppl who had the means and opportunity to help.
2 of them failed. One succeeded.

The Trio

Luke 10:30–35 NIV
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
There’s very little about the victim here. He’s not the point. He’s Jewish, traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho on a road known for its danger. Lots of elevation changes, caves and curves where robbers can hide for an ambush.
You think I-17 or I-10 is dangerous?
He was ambushed. Robbers, plural. Robbed. Stripped naked. Left for dead. He would die from his injuries if no one stopped to help him.
The first of the trio who happened along, was a priest. Coincidence. Unplanned. But there it was.
A priest was a servant who served God and the ppl in the temple. He had the means to help and the opportunity. Priests were supposed t/b among the most spiritually in tune w/ God, mature and responsible.
Jesus doesn’t say why. But when he saw the man, he crossed to the other side and kept going. He intentionally ignored the man and his desperate need.
The second of the trio was a Levite. The Levites were second in command to the priests in the temple. Assistants, if you will. Still, supposedly responsible and mature. In tune w/ God and what He would want him to do.
Jesus implied when He said he saw the man, that he took a closer look. And still walked away. He clearly saw the condition of the man and chose to not get involved.
The third of the trio was a Samaritan. A Samaritan, by definition was a half-breed. So politically incorrect to use that term. Mixed parents. One Jewish parent and one not. They were unaccepted by either side so they were relegated to one area in the Middle East. Samaria.
They were treated poorly, disrespected, less than human, spat on. Outcasts. Unwelcome anywhere else. They were the least respected, beyond the disrespect Jews had for Gentiles. This man would have been the least likely candidate to stop and help the victim. But, he saw the need and he stepped up.
There were 5 specific things he did that Jesus outlined.
He went to the victim when the others avoided him.
He bound up his wounds. Maybe, by tearing strips off his own clothes. No one traveled w/ a first aid kit.
He used wine and oil to treat his wounds. The alcohol content in the wine cleaned the wound but would have stung like crazy. The oil would have soothed the wound and eased the sting.
Anyone suffer this abuse from their mom? Mercurochrome on an open scrape or wound. Then, mom would blow on it to ease the sting.
Anyway, next he put him up on his own donkey and transported him to an inn.
Spent the night caring for the man, paid the innkeeper to continue the care, and promised to return to pay the balance of whatever his care required beyond what he had at the time. This was dump and run. Even that would have been more than he had rec’d up to that point.
This Samaritan was more exemplary than the 2 who preceded him. He saw the need and acted on it.
The man had been robbed. He had no money on him. And the Sam had no idea if he had any way to repay once he recovered, if he would recover at all.
Notice too, the Samaritan was present and engaged the victim emotionally. He took pity on him.
He engaged him spiritually. He was merciful by intervening and not allowing him to die in that ditch. He was gracious in paying for his care w/out any thought of repayment.
He engaged him mentally. He had to have a plan how and where to transport him and care for him.
And he engaged him physically by performing the plan to transport him and care for him.
He was ‘all in’ for this poor victim. It took time, money, and disrupted his personal schedule and plans for the day.
How many of us have trouble when something comes up to disrupt what we already had planned for that day?
After the story, Jesus had one final question for the expert. He started him down this path. So, Jesus wrapped up this little journey w/ a follow up Q. It was the Truth. And sometimes, the truth hurts.

The Truth

Luke 10:36–37 NIV
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
This would have hurt the expert to admit the Samaritan was the good neighbor.
It would have hurt him more to have to go and do likewise, following the example of the Samaritan.
And it would have hurt even more for him to admit how wrong he was about his opinion of himself and how perfect he thought he performed.
Jesus made this much less about the victim and much more about the trio of travelers who had the means and opportunity to help. 2 of them did nothing. The least likely, did not do the least amount to be commended, but went above and beyond the call to help.
Compassion, love, and love are not limited to proximity or locale. They include ppl close by. But they also include those on the other side of the tracks. This is not limited to fellow Xians, either. But anyone who has a need that we can meet.
Jesus said if he would do what the Samarian did, then he’d have eternal life. Still, not teaching that you can work your way to heaven, the work of the Samaritan began in his heart by intentionally watching for opportunities to meet needs and help people.
The issue is not whom we serve, it’s that we serve. It moves us from how we see others to how we see ourselves and how we treat others.
We must be less concerned about who has the need, how we view them, and more concerned about being a good neighbor.
It costs us something.
We cannot separate our faith in X, loving God w/ our entire being, from meeting the needs of the people around us. They are inseparable.
Don’t look for the least you can do.
One other truth to consider given the context about what Jesus is communicating in this story. He is the Samaritan. He is the Outcast. The expert is the priest or the Levite. We are all the victim on the side of the road, that if someone does not intervene, then we are dead on the road.
Jesus, our Good Samaritan, intervened. He sees us. Sees the state of our health. And at great sac to himself, He did what had t/b done to save us.
Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t do the least He could do. He left heaven. Came to earth just like you and me. Grew up and dealt w/ all the growing pains we did.
As an adult, He died. He was executed as an innocent man. It wasn’t even an ACLU approved method of death. It wasn’t painless and quick. It was brutal and slow.
He did it willingly for us b/c that’s what it took to save us.
The 72 He just sent out that returned, would need to understand that part of their ministry moving forward would be to meet physical needs so that they would be able to introduce the ppl to the One who could meet their spiritual need.
We do that, too.
The parable about the Good Samaritan takes the focus away from those who have needs, and places it squarely on those of us who have the means and opportunity to meet those needs.
So, what will it look like for you to apply this one?

Applications

Perfectly Imperfect

Even if we have faith in Jesus to be saved, we still cannot be perfect in our application of loving God and loving our neighbor.
Make this one-word, simple prayer a regular in your convos w/ God.
Help! Please help me love you and love those around me better. What do I need to do to be better?

The Least We Can Do

What’s the least we can do? If that’s your question, then you’re already in trouble. Those words may never cross you lips in terms of God, but they may be in your sub-conscious.
Stop thinking about how little you can get away w/, and start looking for what more you can do to communicate to God what you think of Him.
Maybe, you don’t need to do any more. Or, you don’t need to be anywhere else. Maybe you just need to be more present when you are in His presence.
What more can you do?

Neighbors

While this parable is not limited to those who live in proximity to us, it does not exclude them either.
When I write my book, it will be called, “6 front doors”
I was standing at my mailbox at the curb of my house in Granger, IN when the lightening bolt hit me. I had been reading the book of Acts, and just read 17:26
Acts 17:26 NIV
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
God determined when and where I would live. Sovereign God determined I’d be born in 1960, in Wichita, KS. And, at that time, live on Lexington Glen Dr. in Granger.
A Sovereign God also had something to do w/ each one of my neighbors who bought their house even if they didn’t believe in Him.
So, if I wanted to love my neighbors the way I love myself, it meant I needed to get involved with the ppl who lived behind the 6 front doors I could see from mailbox at my curb.
The first, was my own front door. I had to take care of business inside my house, my character, my spiritual life, then be a godly husband and father.
Then, there were 5 more doors I could see that I realized God had work for me to do w/ the ppl who lived behind them. Start out, just be friends. Invite them over for a happy hour on my deck, dinner, games, something w/ some regularity. Do what it takes to be friends.
Then, as we get to know each other, I will learn about needs they have that I can help w/. But they won’t share these needs w/ strangers.
I can help w/ some things. I can help them find ppl who can if I can’t. And, I can introduce them to the best neighbor they could ever have, someone like that Samaritan.
“I was in a similar situ once, too. Jesus helped me out. He’ll help you, too. Let me show you how.”
When you go home today, would you stop and look at the doors you can see from the front of your house? Would you pray for the ppl who live there?
What can you do to get to know them well enough that when they have a need you would be able to help them meet it?
The 2 greatest commandments; Love God and love each other.
If the 1st one doesn’t get you, then the 2nd one will.
Nobody does this perfectly. We may want to. We may not. But, if we want to go to heaven, this is the standard Jesus says we need to meet.
HELP!
That’s the bad news. But the good news is, if you’ll pray that simple, one-word desperate prayer, Jesus will help you. He is merciful to let it slide when we try to slide by in our relationships. He could smite us on the spot. But, He doesn’t.
He is gracious to still give us the peace, joy, kindness, self-control, power, courage, and abilities that He offers even when we don’t offer all of ourselves to Him.
The standard we must meet is too high. But Jesus stoops low enough help us meet it so we can.
We don’t need to love God perfectly. Nor do we need to love each other like this. We need to try. The effort needs to be there. But when we can’t, Jesus is there to do the rest of the work so we can.
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